Onion’s Omega Looks to Redefine IoT Innovation
Onion has produced a MIPS-based IoT connector that gives developers the ability to create IoT inventions using a tiny piece of hardware. Onion is calling this new product Omega and the Toronto based company has raised over $160,000 on Kickstarter. The six figure investment smashes Onion’s modest goal of only raising $15,000 for the project.
Onion is based out of Toronto, Canada. The upstart brand looks to market the Omega IoT device to developers, who can then leverage the REST API platform to create new innovations. If you are familiar with mini computers, you might be impressed that Omega is only 1/4th of the size of a Raspberry Pi. The Omega doesn’t contain camera capabilities nor was robust desktop computing ever the intention for Omega. The Omega device contains just enough processing power and memory in order to relay data directly to the cloud. Here are some key facts about Omega:
- Uses a Linux Distribution as its Operating System
- Has a 400Mhz Processor
- 64MBs of DDR2 RAM
- 100MB Ethernet Connectivity
- Wi-Fi Capable
- USB 2.0 Port
- Only needs 3.3V (.6W) to Function
Origins of Omega
The Onion group told Kickstarter about how they got the idea for the new innovation. Onion says, “We came up with the idea for Onion Omega when we were attempting to build a connected thermal-printer that’s integrated with Evernote so that we can print physical copies of our notes and to-do lists.”
Onion creators continue by saying, “Frustrated with how inconvenient it was to create such a simple project, we were determined to make hardware development easier and more accessible to those of us with limited hardware experience.”
On the company’s Kickstarter page, Onion mentions that you can pledge as little as $25 in order to get a first look at the Omega IoT device.
